I live on the Hilo side of the Big Island of Hawaii(tools & supplies are hard to come by and extra costs of S&H makes them not as affordable as I'd like).

I found this forum first week of 2010 and was amazed at all the talent. So many gifted minds all in one place willing to share tips & ideas. That's what I call MANA! My wife bought me a dremel for B-day back in '02 and I've hardly even used the machine. After seeing this forum, I was inspired to do something about it.

I always admired those bone hook pendants but was never happy with the affordable types available. In my opinion(no offense) they just looked too... CHEAP! The ones I really liked, I could never afford. So I figured why not make them myself which I was kinda intimidated at first.

Having never carved anything in my life(I draw mostly)I searched the internet for any 'How To's on bone & found this forum, via TikiMango's thread which I must say is extraordinary. I can see the growth from his first bone to his most recent. Then I seen a couple of other's like, Rainhawk & Paipo. You guys are masters at this and yet I read that some of you are still taking lessons from other masters. That goes to show that we are never too old or too good to add on what we are already good at.

There's also some youngster(can't remember his user name) from NZ who posts some really cool stuff at only 15yrs. of age. That was really impressive. Hat's off to you whomever you are.
I only wished I could have learned these things at your age.

Everyone else I forgot to mention, outstanding work. Thank you all for the inspiration.

I am not happy with my first, I still have enough material to try to salvage it, but for now I am too ashamed of it to call 'my own' creation. Maybe I'll take a before & aft surgery pic(that's if I ever decide to pick it up again).

So this is actually my second piece I ever carved out of bone on Jan 27th. It measures 2 1/4" x 1/2"(67mm x 14mm). I made this for my wife who loves green sea turtles. It depicts 3 turtles in a single file line, portraying me, my wife, & our son.

It was inspired by different pieces done by Rainhawk and TikiMango. I'd first seen Rainhawk's piece, & it looked like it was carved out of a boar's tusk. I wasn't sure what it was but imagined what boar's tusks would feel like under the dremmel knife & then a recent post of TikiMango's showed up and I was massively impressed.

Although I had no boar's tusk, I had improvise & had to use bone from the one & only Petco store on the island(2.5 hrs. drive away). Coincidentally I was looking for the new Target(only one on the island) & was lucky enough to find Petco across the street. All Brand New Shopping Centers opened last year July.

I cut the piece off one of those corner edged ridges and started shaping and carved out about 3hrs. later(minus the thinking of what to do & other sidetracked activities)what you see here...

I found dental carbide burrs on ebay and my dentist gave me a few of his used ones that was still in decent shape. So I tried testing it out to see how fine of a detail I can get. I am still not happy with the 3rd turtle which turns out to be 5mm long. My son says it looks like a seal & you know what , I think he may be right. Man, I need to get me a flexshaft. The dremel tool was too cumbersome to hold, especially for that lil' guy.

And yes, that is the 2nd turtle's head on the left rear of top turtle. I told my wife that it portayed her as always trying to take over my position as HOH. She just laughed. She adores this piece very much.

Sorry about the lighting, clouds came, rain gods blessed us after no rain since Dec. 20, 2009.

This is a simple makau design that I just was futtin' around just to see how fast I could make one. It measures 2 1/2" x 1 3/8"(60mm x 35mm). Took me about an hour total. I was confused when it came time to lash it though. There are no decent how to's on that subject with out drilling a hole in the middle for the cord, so I had to figure it out myself. I had to beckon the ancestral mana for assistance and I just started going at it. It holds pretty strong so I am confident that I have it done right.

I was drawing sketches in my book of 'STUFF' this past Sat, Jan 30, of designs that I've never seen before for makau designs. I wanted something to POP! So I doodled & thought, 'what about double hooks?' I've seen some, but I wanted to seperate myself from the others, so the symetry elements went in then not so symetrical but more fluid, they then started to resemble anchors, so flowing anchors were drawn and then I put a semicircle gap on the bottom and was amazed that I had eventually ended with a design that resembled a manta ray.

So my next drawing subject, a flowing manta ray, but I wanted mine's to fly, so I had to picture it underwater, in flight, thus the piece I call "Soaring Depths".

It measures 1 3/4" x convexed curved 2"(44mm X 51mm).

This was pretty difficult to say the least because of the different planes that I had to make up as I was creating it which a paper drawing does not show. I wanted the planes to stick with the fluidity of the piece. At first started by trying to be more symmetrical but then thought, when is mother nature ever symmetrical? That's the reason our left finger prints never match our right. The bulky Dremel don't help either.

I let the bone speak to me on all my pieces so this was a no brainer on how I was going to achieve the curve for the fins, if that's what they're called.

I lashed it on with waxed nylon thread, 4 plaited, unbraided, with a simple single prussik loop but dressed the loop to show the threads wrapping around & dissappearing around the back. Then I wanted to do something different yet again and remebered my sisters braiding friendship bracelets back in da day. So 3 tried & failed attempts & a couple of youtube tutorials later I got it started to about 8 rows(to even out my thread). I then split them & made 4 rows each & then continued the 'under 2, over 1' 4 plait round braid. When I was finished, it was too tight for my neck. I only compensated for the usual round braid and did not take to account the friendship braid knots(note to self: Next time stick to the plan, dummy).

Malo 'aupito(Tongan for thank you), for the constructive criticism,4WD. I know it did lack detail. I don't have much fine detailed burrs to work with or a flexshaft would help too. I just wanted to log something down where I can record my progress. After all, the turtles were my second piece ever carved of any material in my entire life. I enjoyed it alot.

I have so much respect for 3-D artists, sculptors. I can draw pictures with perfect shading & highlights, trying to capture a 3D likeness but to actually create the scupture, tiki, carving of any kind. That gives artistic talent a whole new meaning.

I want to learn more. I need... to learn MORE! Constructive criticism is always welcome. That is how I know what other people feel or like when they see my stuff. If I ever want to sell my pieces, I need to hear from the artistic pros what works & what don't. Then I can concentrate on making what sells & stop wasting time & energy on what doesn't.

No criticism intended, though I now wish I worded that different! I'll bet the detail shows better in person compared to a pic online.
Plus I've never carved bone, so what do I know!

Some bone carvers on here have stained the bone, I think with tea, and it gives the piece an aged look, but also gives some contrast to the carved lines and makes them show better. Maybe something to play around with?

It's cool 4WD, I happened to agree with you when I was creating it myself. To me, it looks like you said, 'lacking in detail' but my wife seems to like it that way. I was thinking of doing the stain thing but she does not want me to touch it anymore. She considers it hers now. I just wished I had better burrs to work with.

Big Scott, malo for the compliments, since I started thislast week, all I've been doing is cutting drilling, grinding, & sanding and when my hand gets tired from holding the dremel, I am drawing new designs & try to put them to actual carvings.

I don't eat. Sometimes I can't sleep cause designs will be cramming my mind & unless I unload it on paper, I have a hard time sleeping. Sounds like I'm addicted somehow to the bone dust I guess.

Boy Oh Boy Nuttzo, You got bit Bad man, there's No hope for you at all now. Good thing too, for US anyway because your first pieces are incredible for the firsts.
You might as well invest in a few good tools and some materials. Scour the pages here for answers to questions you haven't thought of asking yet There are many tool references and bone carving help too.
You started off right in the Most demanding media of all as far as how much detail you can pull out of it, and that's a good thing. Bone allows you to seek your capability as far as detail goes,,, it will take ALL you can give it and more no matter your level. Scour the google images for bone carvings and thrill at the depth and realistic detail some carvers get, especially the eastern carvers like the Japanese and Chinese. Though not tiki the carvings will blow your mind.
LOOK HERE FOR ONEAnother site which includes many bone carvers which Also includes "How-to's" and info about different tools, how to create tools and a video even on carving Netsuke.

Ugghh! I hate work! It drains me of all my time & energy to do more carvings. I wish I had enough carvings to sell so I didn't have to work for someone else.

Benz, malo for the tips, I am deffinately woking on gettin more tools. Filter mask, needle files, & some sharp stainless steel wax carving set(12pc.) just arrived today from various ebay sellers. I've never used any of these tools in my life, so I'll see how things go.

Laojia, malo 'aupito, but I dunno about master, not even close just yet. Maybe "Bonehead" will do for now, lol.

MadDog, malo for the comps. The lashing part was confusing. That was actually after my second try & I was amazed that it still held together after I tugged really hard. I was almost tempted to take it to the ocean for a test drive, lol.

I'd like to try antlers next but I always get outbid on ebay by those late bidders who just sit there before bidding ends & beat my max. Happened 5 seperate occasions. I might as well give up already, on antlers, that is.

Really great work for your first ones, very impressive! It seems that you have already found your own style, and your cord work is very solid, nice. I'm glad you found TC from one of my posts. Looking forward to seeing your progression. Post and post often.
_________________Pupule Tiki!